Chapter Fourteen
Kaede
To call Selena his mate—his star—and receive the opportunity to be with her was something he had deemed nearly impossible after all the years he had searched for her.
He had never fathomed he would someday share Selena with Z, especially not on the first night of her return and in front of other clan members.
Not until Z had stared at him with those abyssal eyes and demanded he submit as they shared Selena did he understand.
The Sovereign didn’t want to steal Selena away from the rest of the clan when they had just gathered in the nestroom after a stressful day, but he needed her… as much as the others did. Kaede had witnessed him trying to treat her more gently since they had returned. Zirene was trying not to be selfish during these difficult times while adjusting to the clan’s exhibitionistic and voyeuristic tendencies.
Circuli nestqueens often had their nestmates perform in front of their clan, as a way of honoring the chosen and shaming those who weren’t picked. Selena didn’t treat her mates like that; he had picked that much up from his vidfeeds and chats with her mates before he joined. She preferred to make her mating a clan event. Her Circuli mates felt her orgasmic bliss through their connections anyway, so she never bothered to hide her pleasure.
Kaede wondered if the knowledge that her other mates were watching nearby, ready to jump in, aroused her.
Kaede had accepted his new clan’s strange habits. Their first times together had been private, and he knew there would be more time for them alone, but he was willing to share Selena. Perhaps he was naïve, but as long as he could be with her, he didn’t mind his clan watching.
During his heat cycle, he had fantasized about countless positions and bedroom games taking place all around the villa and Destima. His favorite involved his nestbrothers restraining Selena with their tentacles and vines while, as a group, they kept her on the edge of an orgasm.
Kaede sat up and rolled his neck, sighing at feeling his bones crack. Brushing his hair back, he lightly touched his fresh mating mark, satisfied with REI’s progress in its healing. He never thought things would go the way they did, but he wasn’t going to complain.
It was a stressful time, filled with heightened emotions.
If Z needed to claim him the way he did for him to self-heal, he had no problems with it as long as he knew that Selena was it for him.
I am willing to be claimed as a clanbrother if that’s what is required for me to share Selena with him without fear of accidentally challenging him.
Kaede looked at his boss, curled tightly around their female. He was surprised to find Z awake, watching him, while he lightly brushed Selena’s hair. Kaede noticed his eyes had lost some of the darkness, though they were still not his normal amethyst color.
“Are you all right?” Kaede jerked his head toward the broody male. “Or do I need to…”
“I will be fine.” His voice still held a deep echo, a sign his shadowside was near the surface. “I didn’t mean for things to go… the way they did.”
“I have been around you long enough to know how to handle you. As long as you don’t try to come on to me, I’m fine.” Kaede raised his hands in surrender. “Seen enough that little will surprise me now, but she seemed to enjoy herself.”
“She did,” he purred as his tail covered her thigh. “I just hope she forgives me for being rough with her.”
“I don’t think you have to worry.” Kaede chuckled, breaking off as soon as Z’s eyes darkened. “She was the dominant one when we were alone. Now, I am not saying I didn’t take an active part, but I believeourmate likes being in control of her males, especially her powerful ones, in the bedroom.”
“I would love to see her try.”
Standing, Kaede peered through the glass dome, watching the waterfall beyond. He stretched, bending his arms over his head and tilting his torso from side to side.
“Will you tell us how you healed Selena?” Z’fir whispered, loud enough for him to hear but too low to wake Selena. “Or the echo we feel coming from her?”
Kaede stilled mid-stretch, surprised by the question as he mulled over his answer.
The princes were part of Selena’s clan, so keeping secrets about Selena wasn’t practical, especially since they were telepaths and connected so deeply with her. Most likely, Q had told everyone what he had done on that ship before he’d sent her away, and Kaica and Oeta would have mentioned it to the medical staff.
“What do you know about the echo?” Kaede hedged, looking over his shoulder at the pair. “What do you expect it could be?”
“We know you placed the orb on her necklace inside her,” V’dim replied, glancing at his bondmate. “But Oeta wouldn’t let us use them to heal Xylo and Odelm.”
“If the orbs could save Selena, why couldn’t they save them, too?” Z’fir asked. “Perhaps they could have prevented us from decaying as much as we did.”
“There’s more you don’t know. Selena paid the price for my failure.”
“What price?” V’dim craned his neck to see Selena over Z’s shoulder. “Is that why she is stronger?”
